Live Stream with Eric S of UrbanStory - Today!

Happenings
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With today being President’s Day (in the US) and rainy outside (in CA), I thought it would a good time to go Live again and share some pro tips from my SketchUp-to-Photoshop aerial rendering process.

Hope to see some of you soon. 2026-02-16T19:30:00Z→2026-02-16T21:30:00Z - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DLFjBzTKUM Cheers.

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Relaxing at home today. I will come and keep you company!

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Thanks for the Live, Eric!

This is what I was asking about in the chat.

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Got it… yeah that works too. I feel like the benefit of Vector is to be able to scale in and not loose resolution. I guess it’s a preference as it should work either way!

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Eric, I reviewed the recording and there is a lot of information to analyze and create based on it, but the Live also has a special charm.
I hope you continue to create content like this.
Thank you!

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Thanks for watching. I want to do a smaller scaled landscape project next - with more modeling in SketchUp too!

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It’s a good idea because this way you have the opportunity to present in more detail the steps and the way you think about the project, without having to stress unnecessarily that it’s not finished. What’s important is the process you go through to create, including errors or stumbles. This helps people learn to overcome those situations in the projects they work on.
Thank you, Eric!

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I’ll keep watching the video, to see the steps you took, because I’ve started to recreate them, but using and looking for solutions to create with vector lines instead of raster painting. :wink:

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Steps below:

Part 1 - Find, consolidate and organize data:

  • Heightmap and Aerial combined and scaled in Photoshop
  • Heightmap imported with Bitmap2Mesh to convert to terrain (alternatively can use lower res Add Location to speed this step up)
  • Drape aerial image over terrain mesh surface
  • CadMapper (or latest Add Location) to bring in context buildings, roads, etc.
  • Setup Styles for export: Textured, Hidden Line (BW), ColorByTag (for selections), Shadows.
  • Set camera angle that tells story best. Higher camera angle looking down shows more of the ground plane and pulls viewer into the site - whereas lower camera angle looking up shows more surrounding context and puts viewer in the site looking out.
  • Export view for each style.

Part 2 - Photoshop

  • Import everything into Photoshop
  • Use CBT export for quick selections
  • Use Aerial for reference to draw from (ie things not modeled - vegetation, cars, important ground plane elements like plazas, etc)
  • Min 4 layers needed - separate trees from base - Linework and Color (=4)
  • Re-color SketchUp shadows
  • Add shadows for things not modeled
  • Apply filters, textures, color wash, dodge and burn, etc as desired to soften or break down the ‘Straight from SketchUp’ look and to make it your own!

Have fun!

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Wow… thanks, Eric! :slight_smile:

A little easier now to check and test vector working methods, including extensions and the new Affinity (which combines Vector, Pixel and Layout).

I will test with a small area and only one building that needs to be highlighted and detailed.

I want to see if it is more efficient to import from cadmapper just the centerline of the roads or the outlines. I feel like I will have better control with the centerline, which I can offset to get the road faces. And to see if SD Mitch’s Multiple Offset extension is useful in this case, with multiple line bifurcations or another extension.

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Looking fwd to seeing what you come up with. If I were to make my own roads and drape them on the terrain surface, I’d use Urbanana. Which I have a license for (not cheap!). This would allow for different road sizes, intersections, sidewalks, etc - all from CAD or SU-drawn centerlines.

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I know the technique and have the extensions necessary to create roads and drape them on the ground, but thanks.

I’m going to test an extension specifically created for working with OSM files imported into Blender.

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You were talking about rounded ends and intersections yesterday, and to work with vector lines it’s useful to have the surfaces and geometry as clean as possible.

I will look into finding a way to create such road surfaces in SketchUp as well, from geometry imported from cadmapper. With such geometry, I can then use Profile Builder to detail roads and sidewalks, if necessary.

But, one by one, I test and see how it’s easier to work to create projects this way.